Plenary

Plenary Session with Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD

The Power of Words: Despite modern medicine’s infatuation with high-tech gadgetry, the single most powerful diagnostic tool in the medical armamentarium is the doctor-patient conversation. However, what patients say and what doctors hear are often two vastly different things. Patients feel an urgency to “make their case.” Doctors multitask while patients speak and miss key elements. Add in stereotypes, unconscious bias, conflicting agendas, and fear of lawsuits and the risk of misdiagnosis and medical errors multiplies. Dr. Orfi will examine whether refocusing the caregiver-patient conversation can lead to better health outcomes.

Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, is one of the foremost speakers about the doctor-patient relationship and bringing humanity back to health care. At a time when frustration is at an all-time high for doctors, nurses, patients, and their families, Ofri’s unique voice and extraordinary perceptiveness help unravel the complex layers of modern medicine.

Dr. Ofri writes regularly for the New York Times about medicine and the critical connection between doctor and patient. Her newest book, What Patients Say; What Doctors Hear explores how refocusing the conversations between doctors and patients can lead to improved health outcomes. In her critically acclaimed book, What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine Danielle upends stereotypes in the medical world and explores the hidden emotional world of the doctor and its impact on patient care.

As a practicing internist at Bellevue Hospital — the nation’s oldest public hospital and perhaps its most legendary — Ofri speaks with the authenticity of a physician directly engaged in the front lines of medical care. On a daily basis she confronts the major medical issues of our time without losing focus on the individual patient.